Chaitanya Mehra, head of a diversified commodities platform at Millennium Management, is spinning out to launch Echion Capital with $1.5bn in backing from Izzy Englander's multi-strategy hedge fund firm, according to a report by Bloomberg.

Echion will initially manage Millennium’s capital exclusively, with plans to open to external investors potentially from 2027. The new firm, based in Miami and London, will focus on energy and commodities.

Mehra, a Yale graduate who joined Millennium in 2018 after stints at Och-Ziff and Goldman Sachs, has built a global platform that emphasises tight risk limits and steady returns. Millennium, which manages $83.4bn across more than 330 investment teams, has a history of supporting spin-outs and external launches, including Taula Capital Management, where it contributed $3bn of a $5bn raise.